Dear Gerdy
by iwant2baweasley
Summary: Rose is in her 7th year at Hogwarts and is new Gerdy for Hogwarts' anonymous advice column Dear Gerdy. That coupled with her school work and changes in her relationship with Scorpius, will make this year interesting.
1. Chapter 1: The Initiation

**_I have literally been writing this story for about an hour and a half. And normally I would wait until I had everything written or at least figured out before I started posting it, but there is just something about this story that just wants to be posted now. So here it is. My first long Harry Potter fiction. I know vaguely how it's going to end, but that is all I know right now. The idea just came to me and I'm running with it. _**

**_So please read it and let me know what you guys think._**

**_xoxoBeccaxoxo_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Initiation<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I'm in love with my best friend. Help._

_Sincerely,_

_Goner_

Dear Goner,

Two best friends falling in love is one of the greatest treasures even if it is scary at first.

But before you go rushing off to tell your best friend that you love them, you need to figure out how they feel about you. I don't mean ask them point blank if they like you or send someone else to ask them for you.

Drop hints about how you feel. Go the extra mile where they are concerned. Make them feel special.

When you finally tell them, don't make them feel pressured to give you a certain answer. If they tell you they don't feel the same way, respect their answer. Don't give them an ultimatum either, that could damage your relationship beyond repair.

Whatever their answer is, love them. It might hurt for awhile, but think of how bad it would hurt without them in your life.

Love,

Gerdy

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><p>Something was up.<p>

Rose Weasley could feel it.

Never in her seventeen years had her parents gone out for dinner on a Thursday evening in the middle of the summer. She knew they had had date nights when she and her brother, Hugo, were younger, but since the pair of them had started attending Hogwarts, their parents had made an effort to make summer time family time.

After watching her parents apparate, Rose wandered into the kitchen and frowned when she saw that her mum hadn't left any dinner for her and Hugo.

"HUGO," she called as she left the kitchen and headed for the stairs. She took them two at a time then peeked into her fourteen-year-old brother's room and found him halfway under his bed. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find my quaffle," came his muffled reply. "Albus and James lost theirs."

"You're going to Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's house?" Rose asked.

"Yup, staying the night," Hugo replied after sliding out from under the bed with the quaffle in his hand.

Even more convinced that something was up, Rose turned and headed up the last set of stairs to her attic bedroom. She wanted to know what was going on and she wanted to know now!

"LATER!" She heard Hugo shout up to her before hearing his feet thunder down the stairs.

She was alone now and that was a rare occurrence for a member of the Weasley clan. She could count on one hand the times she had been left totally alone in parents' house and one of them was an accident.

It had happened when she was five. Her parents were taking her and Hugo to visit their muggle grandparents for a few days while they went on a short holiday and she had run up to her room to get her favorite stuffed dragon (a gift from her Uncle Charlie) and had come downstairs to an empty house. It took her all of thirty seconds to start crying and, when her parents returned minutes later, they had all cried together.

"_We'll never leave you alone again_," her dad had vowed as he had held her in his arms.

And they hadn't. Until now.

So what in Merlin's name was going on!

Rose stayed in her room for a few more minutes before her rumbling stomach convinced her it was time to get something to eat. She stomped down the stairs and regretted not bring her wand with her when she reached the main floor of the house and found it completely dark.

Her heart began to race. Then she heard it, a rustle of fabric.

"Who- who's there?" She asked as a shiver ran down her spine.

"Rose Weasley," a voice she didn't recognize said. "You are the chosen one."

"Chosen one?" She echoed. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but she still couldn't see a single person. "What's going on? Why -"

"The sisters of Gertrude have chosen you to join our sisterhood," the disembodied voice said. "We will reveal ourselves only when you have accepted our invitation and vowed to protect The Sisterhood of Gertrude and never mention it to anyone."

What in Merlin's name was The Sisterhood of Gertrude? She opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but snapped her mouth shut when a familiar smell wafted past her. She only knew one person who wore that particular type of perfume—her cousin Victoire.

"Viccy?" She whispered. "Viccy, are you here?"

There was no verbal response, but she felt a hand suddenly take hers and squeeze it before letting go. Victoire was there, but invisible. That made her feel better. If Victoire was a member then there was no reason for her to not become one.

"I accept the invitation," Rose said, firmly.

"Good, repeat after me," the voice instructed.

"I, Rose Weasley, solemnly swear to protect the secrecy and reputation of the Sisterhood of Gertrude."

Rose repeated the vow word for word.

As soon as the last word came out of her mouth, the lights in the room suddenly came on and Rose found herself staring at the faces of twenty-four other women; among them her Aunt Luna and cousins Victoire, Dominique, Molly, Lucy and Roxanne. Her eyes then found the dinner table full of assorted treats.

"What is all this?" She asked.

"This, Rosie, is your initiation," Victoire smiled. "You are Hogwart's newest Gerdy."

"I'm what?" Rose asked in disbelief. "But I can't be -"

"You are," Luna smiled, tucking a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear. "After the war, I returned to Hogwarts for my seventh year and decided to write a magazine for Hogwarts students. I decided to do an advice section and called it Dear Gerdy because I do love that name.

"Anyway, the magazine didn't do so well, but everyone seemed to love Dear Gerdy. So I continued that on its own. By the end of my year, I knew I couldn't let Gerdy go, so I asked Susie if she wanted to take over the section. She did and the next year she picked Danielle.

"So began the tradition of the current Gerdy picking the next Gerdy. This initiation part came in after the fifth year so we could keep the Sisterhood of Gertrude together and a secret. You, our dear Rosie, are the newest Gerdy."

Rose's eyes left Luna's and made their way to her cousin Roxanne, the most recent Weasley Hogwarts graduate. "Out of everyone, you picked me?" She asked.

"Of course!" Roxanne grinned widely. "You're the brightest girl in your year and with all the boys in our family, you'll be able to offer a wide variety of advice."

"And all of you were Gerdy, too?" Rose asked, looking at Victoire, Dominique, Molly and Lucy. They nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's a secret society," Molly reminded her. "We weren't allowed to say anything to anyone. Not even our family members."

A sudden flash of green light turned all eyes to the fireplace and Rose soon saw her mum climb out followed seconds later by her Aunt Ginny. Her mum was smiling and carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"You knew!" Rose exclaimed, rushing over to her.

"Of course, Luna told me just last night," her mum grinned, giving her a hug. "Congratulations, Rosie."

"Are you two members, too?" Rose asked after hugging her Aunt Ginny.

"Not officially," her mum replied. "But Luna was kind enough to offer us honorary memberships."

Taking a deep breath, Rose turned back to Luna and the rest of the sisterhood. "Ok, so what do I do?"

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><p><strong><em>Until next time... read and review!<em>**


	2. Chapter 2: Back At Hogwarts

**_Back with Chapter 2 of my Rose and Scorpius fic. I had planned to write this a couple days ago, but between work and a family emergency (somewhat handled, but we're ok) the days just got away from me. But seeing as this chapter is called 'Back at Hogwarts' and today is September 1st (for another few minutes), I wanted to get this chapter posted today. So I've spent the last few hours writing this chapter, I probably restarted it half a dozen times, but I've finally got a final version that I'm happy with._**

**_Special thanks to bluethingsareawesome and boysenberry for reviewing the first chapter!  
><em>**

**_xoxoBeccaxoxo_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Back at Hogwarts<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I was sorted into Slytherin. How do I tell my parents?_

_Sincerely,  
>Surprise Snake<br>_  
>Dear Surprise Snake,<p>

There isn't anything wrong with being in Slytherin. Yes, they have produced more dark wizards than the other houses, but not everyone is bad. As long as you remain true to yourself and don't let people convince you to change your moral fiber, you'll be good. The Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin for a reason; it's up to you to figure what that reason is.

As for your parents, they'll probably be surprised as well, but I'm sure they will be proud of you no matter what house you were sorted into.

Always,  
>Gerdy<p>

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><p>Keeping a secret was hard.<p>

Especially for Rose. She had never been a good secret keeper, especially when it meant keeping something from the people she was closest to.

People like Scorpius Malfoy, her best friend.

She had been friends with Scorpius since first year. He had been the first Malfoy to be sorted in a house other than Slytherin and she had been one of three Weasley's to not be sorted into Gryffindor, the other two being her cousins Molly (Hufflepuff) and Lucy (Slytherin). Instead, they had both been sorted into Ravenclaw and hadn't known anyone other than each other, but that was by name only.

It hadn't been until two weeks into the semester that they had spoken to each other for the first time. She had come back to Ravenclaw Tower to get a book she had forgotten and found him standing in front of the door trying to figure out the answer to that day's riddle. It had taken the pair of them a good five minutes before they had worked it out together and were allowed to entry the common room.

After that day, Rose had found herself looking for Scorpius during meals, classes and in the common room and one thing had become quite clear to her—he didn't seem to have many friends—and she had taken it upon herself to help him make friends.

Enter the Weasley offspring.

Rose had faced opposition from both Scorpius and her cousins at her idea that they could all be friends, but by the end of their first year, Scorpius had been friends with them all. They had even managed to convince their fathers to let Scorpius visit a couple times during that first summer.

In the years that had followed, Scorpius had become Rose's biggest confidant. There was nothing that she felt she couldn't share with him and she was sure he felt the same way. They were the best of friends, even if people wanted to define them as more than friends.

But now she had a secret, one that she vowed to not tell anyone.

And it hadn't taken Scorpius long after joining her and her cousins in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express to ask her if she was ok.

She hadn't even gotten through the first hour of the train ride, how was she supposed to get through the rest of the year—no, the rest of her life—with this secret?

After she had assured him she was fine, it seemed like every time she looked up, he was watching her, a strange look on his face. But unlike other looks he had given her over the years, the emotions behind it were unreadable and that had worried her.

That look had stayed in her mind throughout the feast and long after they had all retired to their dormitories. She had gone through a hundred different reasons as to what that look had meant and had finally come to a startling realization: Scorpius had his own secret.

She knew why she couldn't divulge her secret to him, but why in Merlin's name couldn't he tell her his secret?

Over the past week, she had waited for him to reveal his secret, but he kept his mouth shut. She knew that nobody else could tell there was something different about their relationship, but she could tell. They still talked and hung out together, but he had become suddenly polite, like opening doors for her and pulling out her chairs. It was driving her bonkers.

When she had visited the Room of Requirement the last night to take care of the Gerdy duties, she had been tempted to skip the change handwriting charm to see if she could find a letter from Scorpius, but she couldn't do it. Instead, she had performed the charm then had read through the fifty or so letters that had been waiting for her and chose ten to answer.

It had been nearly midnight by the time she had finished answering the letters and using the copy charm to make enough copies for her fellow students to read over breakfast. She had finished her duties by casting a delivery charm (which her mum had admitted to creating) that vanished the stack of papers from the Room of Requirement and delivered them to the Great Hall.

By the time she had returned to the common room, Scorpius had been the only one awake.

"Where have you been?" He had demanded. "You left hours ago, Rose. You're -"

"I'm fine, Scorpius," she had replied. "And I'm exhausted, I'll talk to you in the morning."

She had retired to her room, but hadn't been able to fall asleep. She hated having to keep a secret this big from him.

This morning, she had gotten up extra early to see as many reactions to her first Dear Gerdy piece as possible. She had taken her potions book with her so she could eaves drop on other people's conversations, but Scorpius' arrival had put an end to that.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" He had asked, sitting down next to her.

"It's Saturday, I thought you were going to sleep in," she had shrugged. "Otherwise, I would have -"

It had been then that she had caught the first whiff of his cologne and hadn't been able to keep herself from leaning closer to him, to try and figure out what it smelt like. But before she had had a chance to even begin to figure it out, Albus had arrived on the scene.

"What are you doing, Rosie?" Her cousin had asked amusement evident in his voice.

"Nothing," Rose had replied, sitting back up. She hadn't been able to look her cousin in the eye as he had sat down on the other side of the table, apparently having decided to eat breakfast with them.

"Right," Albus had stated. "So Scorpius, since Rose won't tell me, why was she smelling you?"

Rose had kicked her cousin under the table, but he had ignored her and waited for Scorpius' answer.

"Just going for something new," Scorpius had shrugged.

Rose had been fine with that excuse; really who was she to complain that he smelt good?

But it hadn't been until now, an hour after lunch, that she realized that Albus hadn't been fine with Scorpius' answer.

She had been on her way to the library to study when she had heard their voices down and stopped to listen.

"So, who is she?" Albus asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Scorpius replied.

"Yes, you do," Albus stated. "Who is the girl you're trying to impress?"

"What makes you think I'm trying to impress anyone?" Scorpius asked.

Rose didn't have to see her cousin to know he was getting frustrated.

"Look, Scorpius -"

"Hi Rose!" Lily greeted, coming from behind her.

Rose groaned and turned to face her cousin as two pairs of feet came hurrying up the hall and turned the corner.

Busted.

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><p><strong><em>Until next time... read and review!<em>**


	3. Chapter 3: The Uncertainty of Things

_**Happy Saturday everyone! I'm sorry that it's taken me nine days to get this chapter out to you guys, it was definitely not my intention. Between this chapter giving me problems and working full time, the days just got away from me. With that said, my goal for this story is to post a new chapter at least once a week, but that will depend on how my week goes and how easy/hard the chapter is to write.**_

_**Before you guys actually read the chapter, I just wanted to let you guys know that the "Dear Gerdy" part of each chaptr doesn't always have something to do with the story as a whole. Some of them are just filler and others are important to the story – but you guys will have to figure out which is which :D**_

_**Thanks to anon who left a review that put a smile on my face! You are awesome!**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: The Uncertainty of Things<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I want to play Quidditch professionally after school, but my parents' refuse to accept that as an "appropriate" career goal. What do I do?_

_Sincerely,_

_Frustrated Fifth Year_

Dear Frustrated Fifth Year,

If you're serious about wanting to play Quidditch professionally, you need to prove that to your parents. Show them that you are dedicated to the sport. For example, instead of sleeping in during holidays, get up early and train. Also, look into the Quidditch related careers and get a feel for what is open to players once they retire.

However, I do recommend you address your parents' concerns. Not only can Quidditch be a dangerous sport, but there is also the chance that someone else might be that much better than you and make the team (or take your spot). So instead of thinking about an alternative career as one that is "acceptable," think of it as a back-up plan.

Good luck and happy practicing!

Gerdy

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><p>Lying to people who knew you couldn't lie worth shit was nerve-racking.<p>

Luckily for Rose, Lily, the youngest of all the Weasley grandchildren, was an expert at it and apparently even more perceptive than they all thought. It seemed her cousin had figured out what was going on simply from the desperate look Rose sent her as Albus and Scorpius rounded the corner.

"Sorry I kept you waiting, Rose," Lily said. "Have you been here long?"

Thank Merlin for Lily! She hadn't even batted an eyelash in Albus and Scorpius' direction.

"Just got here," Rose lied then slowly turned around to face the guys. She was sure the fact that she was lying was written all over her face, but it was too late to back out now. "Oh, hey, guys."

They were both staring at her like they were waiting for her to crumble and tell the truth that they all knew: she had been listening in on their conversation.

"Well, we should get to the library," Lily said. "You promised to check over my essay for Professor Longbottom, Rose."

"Oh, right," Rose nodded, once again thanking Merlin that Lily was her cousin. "We'll see you guys later."

They didn't wait for the guys to reply before walking away, but instead of going to the library, Rose found herself being pulled into the closest girls' lavatory.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Lily demanded, displaying one of her most annoying traits: nosiness.

Rose sighed and rubbed her forehead, knowing there was absolutely no way she could come up with another lie, especially not one that Lily would believe.

"I really was going to the library," she finally said to her cousin after taking a quick survey of the room to ensure they were really alone. "And I heard their voices -"

"So you stopped to listen," Lily grinned. "And what were they talking about?"

"Albus thinks that Scorpius is trying to impress a girl," Rose shrugged. "But Scorpius wouldn't admit to anything."

"Well, what do you think?" Lily asked.

"What do you mean?" Rose replied.

There was something in the grin her cousin was giving her that Rose didn't like, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Do _you_ think Scorpius is trying to impress anyone?" Lily asked.

"I don't know, I guess," Rose said, biting her lower lip. "I mean he's wearing cologne now and he seems to have really matured this summer. If we're going somewhere together, he always opens the door for me or lets me go into a room first."

"Well, has he said anything to you about it?"

Rose shook her head then frowned when she saw her cousin's smile widen.

"What are you grinning about?" She asked Lily.

"Nothing," Lily replied, pulling her long red hair back in a ponytail. "We should probably go to the library and study in case the boys show up to check on us."

Rose nodded and followed her cousin out of the room, bumping into Clarity McMorgan, a seventh year Slytherin, with straight black hair that ended at her waist.

"Watch where you're walking, Weasley," Clarity snapped. "You too, Potter."

Rose was shoved backwards into the door frame as Clarity pushed past her. Ignoring the pain in her back, Rose quickly grabbed Lily's wand hand before her cousin could hit Clarity with a Bat-Bogey hex.

"She's not worth it," Rose said, once the lavatory door closed. "Come on."

Fearful of what Lily might try, Rose kept her hand tightly around her cousin's wrist and led her to the library. It was there that she let go of Lily and followed her cousin towards the table area, where they found Albus and Scorpius sitting with their books spread out.

"What are you two doing here?" Lily asked.

Rose winced at the loud way Lily threw her book bag on the table and sent apologetic looks to the students around them before setting her own book bag down.

"We came to study with you guys," Albus replied. "And imagine our surprise when we got here after getting our stuff from our rooms and you two were nowhere to be found."

"I had to pee," Lily retorted. "Is that ok with you, Albie?"

Rose rolled her eyes and looked at Scorpius to give the 'they're really going to fight about something this stupid' look she always gave him when Albus and Lily got started, but the second her eyes met his, she couldn't do it.

Her eyes remained locked with his, searching for something _anything_ that would give her a glimpse of what he was thinking.

"And you, Scorpius!"

Rose jumped as Lily's voice tore her and Scorpius' eyes apart.

"You tell your friend McMorgan what it's like to get hit with a Bat-Bogey hex, because I swear to Merlin, if she pushes Rose into another door frame, I'll get her. Mark my words."

"She pushed you?" Scorpius asked. "Are you ok?"

Rose nodded, touched at the concern that filled his face. "It's not as bad as Lily is making it sound," she insisted. "We ran into each other in the lavatory doorway."

"Are you sure?" There was something in Scorpius' voice that seemed odd.

Rose nodded and pulled her Charms book out of her bag.

"As for Clarity being my friend," Scorpius said, distracting Rose from opening her Charms book. "She isn't. We have known each other our whole lives because our parents are friends."

"Yeah but that didn't stop you from writing that she looks hot in a bikini," Albus snickered.

Rose swallowed hard and forced her eyes on the book in front of her as what her cousin was saying made its way to her brain. She knew that Scorpius' family and Clarity's family always went on holidays together during the summer, but she had never considered that Scorpius might be attracted to Clarity.

The combination of Scorpius and Clarity didn't make sense to her; they were like day and night. Granted, she had never spent time with Clarity outside Hogwarts, but she couldn't imagine her being anything but the bully she was like in school and her favorite targets had been Rose, her brother and her cousins.

Dread filled her stomach.

Surely, Scorpius wasn't trying to impress Clarity McMorgan. He wouldn't do that to her and her cousins, right?

But why would he hide the identity of the girl he was trying to impress if it was someone they would all approve of?

It was Charity, the girl Scorpius was trying to impress.

Filled with a sense of panic, Rose stood up, suddenly, knocking her chair over completely. She grabbed her stuff and left the library before the others had a chance to react.

Knowing that Scorpius would be able to follow her to the common room, she ran up to the seventh floor and disappeared into the Room of Requirement. Once there, she dropped her stuff on the floor and fell face first on to the sofa that hadn't been there the last time she had worked on her letters.

She couldn't explain the panic that had overcome her. Scorpius was her best friend and she knew she should be happy for him if this was really what he wanted, but she couldn't fight the dull ache that settled in her stomach and the thought that it wasn't supposed to be this way that settled in her head.

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><p><em><strong>Until next time! Enjoy, read and review!<strong>_


	4. Chapter 4: Hints

_**Happy Sunday my friends! This has been one crazy week, went down with the flu, recovered and got hit with a bout of food poisoning. Very happy to finally be feeling better and really happy to get this next chapter out to you all as it too was a bear to write. **_

_**Don't have a lot of time today for chit chat (gotta get cracking on a Ron/Hermione piece that I want to post tomorrow) so I will say have a great week and I'll [hopefully] have more for you guys next weekend!**_

_**Special thanks to NegligibleNaina, OMG.I'., Love without expectation for commenting on Chapter 3.**_

_**xoxoBeccaxoxo**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Hints<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I'm crazy for this girl, but nothing I do seems to impress her. Help._

_Sincerely,_

_Desperate For Help_

Dear Desperate For Help,

I am sorry to hear you are having trouble impressing the girl you fancy and I wish I could help you, but that's nearly impossible. There are no set guidelines on how to impress girls, because no two girls are alike.

The only thing I can tell you is that you should be yourself, no matter what. Most people aren't impressed with people who pretend they are something they're not. If someone doesn't like you for who you are at the end of the day then they aren't worth the time and energy to impress.

Sorry I couldn't help you more,

Gerdy

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><p>It was official; she was going crazy.<p>

That was the only explanation that Rose could come up with, in the days that followed, to explain why she had panicked that night in the library. She had gone over the scene in her head several times, but she couldn't understand why she had felt and acted upon the urge to flee.

She had stayed in the Room of Requirement until just before curfew and had gone straight to her room when she'd reached Ravenclaw Tower. The last thing she had wanted to do was bump into Scorpius and have him start asking questions; she hadn't been ready for that.

She had spent the next day, Sunday, avoiding Scorpius, Albus and Lily at all cost. Which meant she had spent a lot of time in her room alone and had only eaten what Winky the House Elf had brought her room (at Lily's request, Rose was sure).

With Monday had come the realization that she couldn't hide any more, unless she skipped classes and the mere thought of getting a howler from her mum had made dealing with Scorpius, Albus and Lily more bearable.

Rose had put on a brave face and to her amazement, and relief, Scorpius and Albus had acted as if nothing odd had happened. The same could not have been said about Lily, the second she had caught her cousin's eye, Rose knew that Lily wasn't going to let anything go.

Lily being two years younger than Rose had made avoiding her all that much easier.

Tuesday and Wednesday had been more or less the same as Monday. She had gone to her classes, avoided being alone with Lily and had spent the evenings studying in the common room with Scorpius. It had been almost normal, save for the whole avoiding Lily thing and doing more studying than talking with Scorpius.

She had spent Thursday evening in the common room studying while Scorpius and the rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team practiced. It was then that instead of writing her transfiguration essay for Professor Locke, she had decided she didn't like the strain that her relationship with Scorpius, and her cousins, had taken during the past week.

Scorpius was her best friend and the barer of nearly all of her secrets and she is, so he had to have a really good reason for not telling her about the girl he fancied. She would have to show him that she was an asset to getting the girl he wanted and that when he got her, she would support him and whoever his girlfriend was.

Friday night, Rose had slipped out of dinner early and had made her way to the Room of Requirment to take care of her Gerdy responsibilities. As soon as she had read the letter from "Desperate For Help," she had known that it would be one of the ten letters she would answer. If Scorpius couldn't come to her for advice then she'd have to use Desperate's letter to advise her best friend.

In her response to Desperate, she had written from the heart. In her opinion, Scorpius Malfoy was nearly perfect and he always had been. The thought of him changing himself to impress a girl, broke her heart. Any girl, who found herself the subject of his desires, should consider herself lucky.

Today was Saturday and it had been an entire week since the incident in the library. With the publishing of the newest Dear Gerdy responses, Rose had purposely taken her time coming down for breakfast, despite telling Scorpius she'd meet him there after she grabbed something from her room as they were heading down to the Great Hall.

By the time she got to the Great Hall, Scorpius had already filled his plate with food and was reading Dear Gerdy while he ate.

"Anything good?" Rose asked, sitting down next to him at the table.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Scorpius nodded, nearly knocking over the bench as he stood up. "Excuse me."

Rose's eye brows furrowed as she watched him practically run out of the Great Hall, nearly colliding with Albus.

"Where is he off to?" Albus asked as he sat down across the table from Rose.

Rose shrugged and looked down at her eggs, she wasn't hungry any more.

"Do you think he's coming back soon?" Albus asked.

"I don't know, why?" Rose asked, watching as he piled food onto his plate.

"He promised me a game of Wizard's Chess before we worked on our potions essay," Albus replied.

"I'd play," Rose said. "It's been awhile since I've beat you."

"You're on, Weasley," Albus grinned.

Rose made a disgusted face as her cousin stuffed food into his mouth.

"You are truly disgusting," she stated.

After Albus finished stuffing his face, he pulled his travel Wizard's Chess set out of his pocket, cast the enlargement spell and set it up. What Rose lacked in Quidditch skills, she made up for in Wizard Chess skills.

It wasn't until the end of the game, when Albus was complaining about a move Rose had made that Scorpius returned, looking like he had just gotten out of the shower. He sat down next to Rose, as if he hadn't run out like his broom stick was on fire, and she was instantly overtaken by the spicy but clean scent that she had considered his scent since fourth year.

She hadn't even realized she had leaned towards him until Albus opened his mouth and said, "Oi! Rose, what is with you and smelling Scorpius?"

Feeling her face turn red, Rose straightened quickly and kicked her cousin in the shin for good measure. She couldn't believe she had gotten caught smelling her best friend again.

"Leave her alone, Al," Scorpius said. "Embarrassing her isn't going to keep her from kicking your arse."

Sure her face was still unnaturally red, Rose made her final move and declared, "Check mate."

"Arse kicked," Scorpius added.

Rose met his eyes for the first time that morning and returned the smile he was giving her.

"I'm beginning to feel like my dad," she heard Albus mutter under his breath.

Rose tore her eyes away from Scorpius and looked at her cousin confused. What in Merlin's name did that mean?

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><p><em><strong>If you like it please read and review! Thanks<strong>_


	5. Chapter 5: Confrontation

_**Hey guys… sorry about the lack of updates. It's been a crazy few weeks between work and a couple family emergencies. Here's hoping I'll be able to get something out to you guys this coming weekend.**_

_**Special thanks to Cass (who left 4 totally awesome reviews! sorry i couldn't update for you sooner...), Nanita, cddn and scorpius4eva for reviewing the last chapter!**_

_**xoxoBeccaxoxo**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Confrontation<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I'm seeing this bird and snogging her is amazing, but she is extremely clingy. My friends tell me I should just break up with her, but they don't know what she can do with her tongue. So how do I get her to be less clingy without breaking up with her?_

_Sincerely,_

_Smothered_

Dear Smothered,

Let me just start by saying that you are a right foul git and if I knew who you were, I would tell your girlfriend. I don't so I will tell you this, if it is only the "things she can do with her tongue" that are keeping you from breaking up with her then figure out what it is she does with her tongue and find another girl that fits the type you're looking for.

To all you ladies out there who have boyfriends who want to spend more time snogging with you than doing anything else, it might be time for a new boyfriend.

Sincerely,

Gerdy

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><p>Was pretending everything was normal when it clearly wasn't worth the hassle?<p>

Rose was beginning to think it wasn't.

It had been three weeks since the incident and their nonverbal agreement to pretend nothing happened. The idea had been that by pretending it didn't happen, they could all go about their normal lives, but there was nothing normal about the way they were acting.

She had caught Albus and Lily having hushed conversations in odd places around the castle and they would always stop talking when they sensed her presence or saw her. Following the first of these incidents, Lily had actually found Rose and apologized for putting her nose where it didn't belong and vowed to be there if Rose found herself needing someone to talk to.

If that wasn't strange enough, Albus had taken to muttering things under his breath when he was studying with Rose and Scorpius in the library or sitting with them at the Ravenclaw table during breakfast and lunch. Most of what he said was too quiet for her to hear, but she swore she heard him mutter something about Scorpius' cousin Natalia Knotts, a Slytherin first year, one time.

And then there was Scorpius himself. He had done away with the cologne (though, part of her did miss it) and had only done gentlemanly things, like opening the door for girls, that his mother would have punished him for not doing.

He had also taken to staring at her, especially this past week. It seemed like every time she looked up from her work or a meal, he was looking at her with an unreadable look on his face. Sometimes when she caught him staring, he'd look away from her, but other times he'd keep eye contact with her, almost as if he was challenging her.

Another annoying trait he had picked up was asking her where she was going. Most of the time, she was going the same place as he was, but Friday nights had become a challenge because he had obviously noticed her absence those first six Friday's of the school year.

So this week, to save herself from being bombarded with his questions, she had decided to do the preliminary part of the weekly Dear Gerdy on Thursday while he was at Quidditch practice. She ate dinner early then took several shortcuts to the seventh floor.

After two hours of reading through the newest Dear Gerdy letters, she had left the Room of Requirement and headed to Ravenclaw Tower, hoping to be back before Scorpius returned from Quidditch practice.

She hadn't been.

He had been waiting for her at the bottom of the spiral staircase that led to the tower, freshly showered and dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue sweater. There was something about the look he was giving her that reminded her of the disapproving look her father had given her when he found out that she had become friends with Scorpius.

She hadn't argued when he turned, without saying anything, and led her away from the tower. They had gone to the nearest classroom and it was there that Rose found herself now, waiting to hear whatever it was that Scorpius felt needed to be said.

"What's going on with you, Rosie?" He finally said, his eyes seeking out her own.

She considered playing coy and replying with an 'I don't know,' but she still had an essay to finish and an answer like that would only piss Scorpius off. She finally settled on saying, "Nothing."

"It is not _nothing_, Rose!" Scorpius exclaimed and she had to fight back a snigger when he threw his hands in the air; he had always had a flair for the dramatics. "I _know_ you're hiding something from me, Rose, why can't you just tell me what it is?"

"You're on to talk about keeping secrets," she muttered, crossing her arms.

"There will be a time and a place for my secret to be revealed," he said. "But what ever you're hiding worries me because it's changing you."

"What do you mean it's changing me?" She retorted.

"Well, for one, that scene in the library," he said, holding up one finger. "Then there are your mysterious absences on Friday nights." He added a second finger. "Then, finally, your disappearance this evening." He held up a third.

"So?" It annoyed her that he was keeping such a close tab on her every night of the week. Why did it matter what she was up to? It wasn't like he was in charge of her. "It's none of your business what I do in my free time, Scorpius."

"Yes it damn is if you are doing something against the rules," Scorpius said, puffing out his chest. "I _am_ a Prefect, mind you."

"How dare you use the fact that you are a Prefect against me!" Rose exclaimed, shoving him hard in the chest. "I may not be a Prefect, _Malfoy_, but I don't break school rules. You of all people should know that, you're supposed to be my best friend."

"I _am_ your best friend," Scorpius replied, his voice softening. "Which is why I am worried about you, Rose. You haven't been yourself at all this year and I'm at a loss as what to do. I thought about writing to your parents, but Albus talked me out of it."

"You were going to write to my parents?" Rose exclaimed. "What did you think I was doing?"

"That's just it, I don't know what you've been doing!" Scorpius retorted. "You won't tell me, Albus or even Lily anything! For all I know, you're messing around with a bad group of people or you have a boyfriend that you won't tell us about."

"Well let me ease your mind so you'll get off my back," Rose snapped. "I'm not messing around with a bad group of people and I don't have a boyfriend. In fact, the time I spend away from you lot is my _me_ time. Without it, I'd go insane."

She didn't wait for Scorpius to reply, instead, she left the classroom, took a shortcut and got to Ravenclaw Tower before he did. She went straight up to her dorm room, got ready for bed and pulled the curtains closed, willing herself to fall asleep.

Instead of sleeping, however, she laid awake thinking about what Scorpius had said. Or rather what he hadn't said. Her mind kept replaying his response to her asking about his secret, "_There will be a time and a place for my secret to be revealed_." What had that meant? And when would this time and place be?

It wasn't until her alarm went off the next morning that she realized she had gotten a little sleep that night, but it hadn't been enough to make the day any easier. The day just wore on and on. She had even opted to take a nap in the classroom of the class she had after lunch, instead of eating.

Once her classes had ended for the day, she had retired straight to the Room of Requirement, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stay up late tonight to work on them. She settled into her chair and paused when she saw a new letter sitting in her Dear Gerdy box. She pulled it out and opened it, eyes widening at what was written:

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I'm worried about my best friend. She hasn't been herself at all this year and there are a couple nights a week where she seems to be missing. I tried to talk to her about it tonight, but she was really defensive and made up a story about needing time to herself. I don't know what to anymore. Should I write to her parents about my concerns? Or talk to the headmistress? Help._

_Sincerely,_

_Deeply Concerned_

There was no doubt in her mind that Deeply Concerned with Scorpius; especially not when she recognized his handwriting after not remembering to cast the anonymous spell.

What was she supposed to do now? In years prior, she would have turned to Gerdy for help, but seeing as _she_ was _Gerdy_ that wasn't an option. What she needed what her own Gerdy. Or maybe _twenty-four_ Gerdies.

Grabbing a spare piece of parchment, Rose scribbled a note to her cousin Victorie with a simple: S.O.S. written in large letters. She closed her eyes and thought 'I need wish my owl was here' three times. As soon as she heard the hooting of her owl Dotie, she opened her eyes and smiled. She quickly tied the letter to her foot then opened the window that appeared in a nearby wall and let the owl out.

Too nervous to sit back down, she began to pace. Let the waiting begin.

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><p><em><strong>Until next time…read and review!<strong>_


	6. Chapter 6: Meeting of the Gerdies

**_No your eyes do not deceive you, I really am updating just over a week after my last update! Once I got my rear in gear and sat down to write, the chapter came really easily, which was a nice change! I have ideas for the next chapter and I'll hopefully have that for you guys this time next week._**

**_xoxoBeccaxoxo_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Meeting of the Gerdies<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_My mum and dad have promised to buy me a pet for my birthday, but I don't know what I want. I'm torn between a cat and an owl. Which do you recommend?_

_Sincerely,_

_Undecided_

Dear Undecided,

I understand why you would be turn between a cat and an owl. It is one that I also struggled with. I ultimately decided to get my own owl, but if I had to choose again, I would definitely get a cat, because my family already had an owl. Though, at the time I chose to get an owl, we already had a cat.

So my recommendation is that if your family doesn't have an owl, you should get an owl; otherwise, get a cat because they are quite loveable.

Hope that helps,

Gerdy

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><p>Waiting for the mail to arrive had never been so nerve racking.<p>

And Rose had never been so excited to see Dotie flying towards her the next morning. In her haste to grab the letter, she nearly knocked over her glass of pumpkin juice, but saw Scorpius grabbed it just in time from the corner of her eye.

Rose quickly unrolled the letter and read:

_Rose,_

_Meet us in Fred's apartment over the shop at 11am._

_Victoire_

"Who's the letter from?" Scorpius asked after Rose had tucked the letter away.

"My mum," Rose lied, spotting Albus, Lily and her younger brother, Hugo, walking their way. "Hey guys."

"So what are we doing in Hogsmeade today?" Lily asked, sitting down next to Rose.

"Same thing we always do," her brother replied. "Go to the Hogs Head, walk around, visit the joke shop, go to the Quidditch shop and end our day at the Three Broom Sticks."

And there was the complication that Rose hadn't considered. What Albus said was true, they always did the same things when they were in Hogsmeade and her absence would be noticed not just by her companions but by the shopkeepers who had known her since she was a baby.

If she was going to be able to sneak away to meet with the Gerdies, she was going to need help and that meant telling someone; someone who could lie to anyone and get away with it. She needed Lily.

While she ate her breakfast, Rose tried to come up with a story that Lily would believe, but had no luck. It wasn't until the five of them were headed to Hogsmeade that she overheard Scorpius mention something about his birthday and an idea began to form in her mind.

Like every Hogsmeade trip she had come on since her third year, they headed straight to the Hogs Head and ordered butter beers from Aberforth Dumbledore. Other Hogwarts students shied away from the Hogs Head and its grumpy barman, but the Weasley-Potter kids knew who he was and he had always been kind to them.

It was in the Hogs Head that Rose pulled Lily away from the boys and got down to business.

"I need your help," she told her cousin in hushed tones.

"Anything," Lily answered quickly.

"I need you to cover for me," Rose told her then mentally prepared herself for the lie she was about to tell. "I haven't found a present for Scorpius yet and his birthday is next week. Obviously, I can't buy the present when I'm with him, so I need you to cover for me when they figure out I've left."

"Why don't we just tell them we need girl things and then I can help you pick out his present?" Lily asked.

"No," Rose said quickly. "It'll be easier this way, I promise." She looked at her cousin pleadingly. "Please, Lil."

"Fine," Lily replied. "But you owe me."

"You're the best," Rose grinned. "Let's finish our drinks then you can lead the boys to the Quidditch shop or something and I'll 'get lost.'"

Lily nodded and led Rose back to the table.

"Everything ok?" Scorpius asked, once Rose had sat down next to him.

"Perfect," she replied with a smile.

Thirty minutes later, they said their goodbyes to Aberforth and exited the Hogs Head. They started the walking portion of their Hogsmeade trip and just as Rose was beginning to stress about the time, Lily stopped in her tracks, causing Hugo to bump into her.

"Oh. My. God." She breathed. "Is that the new firebolt?"

The eyes of all three guys shot to the window of the Quidditch shop and before Rose knew it, all four of her companions were heading towards the shop, completely unaware that she wasn't following.

Silently thanking Lily, Rose quickly made her way to the Hogsmeade location of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and used the shop's backdoor. She slipped inside then raced up the stairs to the apartment, just as her watch hit 11.

Before she could knock on the door, it opened and she found herself face to face with Victoire.

"I was just coming to look for you," Victoire said, stepping aside to let Rose into the apartment. "We saw you leaving the Hogs Head with the others."

"I barely got away," Rose replied. "Who all is here?"

"Just the cousins," Victoire said. "I didn't think this warranted a full Gerdy meeting and I figured you'd rather keep this private."

"Thanks," Rose said then followed Victoire down the hall to the sitting room where she found Dominique, Molly, Lucy and Roxanne waiting.

"Ok, let's get down to business," Victoire said, gesturing for Rose to sit. "We're all a bit curious as to the S.O.S. you sent me last night. What's going on?"

"This," Rose said, pulling out the letter from Scorpius. "It's a Dear Gerdy I received last night after I fight I had with Scorpius about this exact subject. And it's his handwriting, I forgot to put the charm on the box before I pulled it out."

The cousins passed it around and Roxanne made a strange squeaking noise when she finished reading it. Rose looked at her cousin, but instead of returning her look, Roxanne looked at Victoire, who shook her head when Rose turned to look at her.

"I'm willing to bet that the Gerdy situation is part of the reason he is worried about you," Victoire said. "But is there any other reason that he should be worried about you?"

Rose sucked in a breath. She didn't really want to relive the embarrassment of the library situation again or getting caught listening to Albus and Scorpius' conversation, but she knew that if anyone could help her figure things out it would be five older girl cousins.

Once she started talking, she couldn't stop. She told them about the train ride to Hogwarts and how she knew Scorpius was keeping something from her. Then about the other letters she now suspected Scorpius had sent to Gerdy and the whole conversation they had had Thursday night in the classroom.

When she finished, she saw her cousins exchange knowing smiles and frowned. What was that all about?

"We can help you with the Gerdy situation," Victoire told her. "But the rest, you'll have to figure out by yourself."

"The rest?" Rose repeated, confused.

"It'll come in time, I promise," Victoire grinned.

Twenty minutes later, Rose and her cousins had penned a reply to "Deeply Concerned" that would run in the next issue of Dear Gerdy.

It was nearly one o'clock by then and one by one her cousins left via the floo network until it was just her and Roxanne.

From the look on her cousin's face, Rose could tell she was struggling with something.

"You ok?" She asked.

"Fine," Roxanne nodded. She glanced at the fireplace where Victoire had disappeared from moments before. "If you need answers, you can look at previous Dear Gerdy issues. You never know what you'll find."

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><p><em><strong>Until next time… read and review!<strong>_


	7. Chapter 7: The Letter

**_Look at me! It's only been FIVE days since the last update and I'm updating again! (Note To Cass: challenge accepted and SMASHED! ;] ) This chapter is shorter than the others have been… but it's got good stuff. _**

**_This past week I was finally able to map out the rest of the story and I can now say that there will be 10 chapters total, possibly a epilogue (keep going back and forth on that) and I have ideas for a one-shot from Scorpius' point of view._**

**_Anyway, enough with my babbling (do any of you even read it?). I forgot all about doing my special thanks for Chapter 5 so here are my thanks to reviewers of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6._**

**_Extra special thank you to these awesome people: Kick Me Awake, Love without expectation (x2), Cass (x3), Anie1129, NegligibleNaina, Star B, Luckydoggy and SapphireMoon10._**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: The Letter<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I'm worried about my best friend. She hasn't been herself at all this year and there are a couple nights a week where she seems to be missing. I tried to talk to her about it tonight, but she was really defensive and made up a story about needing time to herself. I don't know what to anymore. Should I write to her parents about my concerns? Or talk to the headmistress? Help._

_Sincerely,_

_Deeply Concerned_

Dear Deeply Concerned,

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but now that you have expressed your concerns to your best friend, you need to believe her when she saws that nothing is going on until you have solid evidence that says otherwise. I understand that it will be hard, but I'm sure the last thing you want to do is push your friend to a point where she is no longer interested in being friends with you.

By trusting her and remaining supportive, you'll be the person she turns to if there is in fact a problem.

Remain strong,

Gerdy

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><p>Balancing classes, homework, Gerdy and friends was even harder than before as she attempted to ease Scorpius' concerns.<p>

In the five weeks since her meeting with her cousins, Rose had adjusted her schedule so she could break her Gerdy work up over a couple days: Monday and Wednesdays she got up an hour early and spent an hour reading letters before breakfast; Thursdays she used the time Scorpius was at Quidditch practice to get the majority of the work done; and on Fridays she used her afternoon break (when Scorpius was in Divinations) to put the final touches on the issue.

Of course, the adjustments had meant she could send the issue down to the Great Hall from the Room of Requirement, at least not until she had written to her mum to ask about setting a delivery time on the spell. It had taken a extra flick of her wrist and the addition of 'Saturday morning' to set the time.

Based on the hint that Roxanne had given her in Hogsmeade, Rose had expanded her Gerdy work to include reading old issues. They were already bound by year, but Aunt Luna's creativity had exploded all over them and, since she was planning to read them in company, Rose had to transform them into boring looking books.

Despite her attempts to ease his worry, however, Scorpius had continued to watch and keep tabs on her. It never reached the point it had that evening in the classroom, but she continued to feel like she was under a magnify glass. It was like he was waiting for her to slip up and catch her snogging some guy in a cupboard or practicing dark magic with a gang of Slytherins.

The Scorpius Situation, as she had started calling it in her head, was the main reason she was pouring into the old Gerdy letters. Roxanne had made it seem like she would find all the answers to the dealing with the situation in them, but there hadn't been anything remotely related to what she was going through.

She had already read through the first twenty years of Dear Gerdy letters and had been surprised with the similarity of the questions every year. Though, each Gerdy clearly had her own voice and opinions, so each response was unique.

With only seven years worth of letters left, Rose was beginning to think that the whole thing was a waste of time. Especially after remembering that Roxanne had played Quidditch second through seventh year and there was no way her cousin had had time to read through twenty-six years of letters.

Unless…

Was it possible that Roxanne had answered a question last year that she thought would help Rose? If she had, why hadn't she said anything?

Victoire's words came to mind, "_We can help you with the Gerdy situation. But the rest, you'll have to figure out by yourself._"

With that came the memory of Roxanne's strange squeak after she had read Scorpius' letter at that same meeting.

Yes, Rose decided. Roxanne definitely knew something, but hadn't dared to say it in front of Victoire. Instead, she had waited until it was just the two of them in her brother's apartment to tell Rose to look at old Gerdy letters.

There was obviously something in them that she thought Rose needed to see.

Armed with that theory, Rose had visited the Room of Requirement to get Roxanne's letters before retiring to the common room to relax with Scorpius and the other occupants of Ravenclaw tower.

It was there, sitting in a navy blue wingback chair a few feet from where Scorpius was talking Quidditch with one of his teammates, that her eyes landed on the one thing that could make her stop breathing.

There it was. Black as the sky outside the window.

_Help. _

Taking a deep breath, she moved her eyes to the start of the short letter and read:

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I'm in love with my best friend. Help._

_Sincerely,_

_Goner_

Her wide eyes flicked from the letter to Scorpius then back to the letter.

No! No. Absolutely not.

But it had ended with "Help." just as his other letter had and hadn't she already used that "Help." to connect him to the other letters?

Maybe he read this letter and decided to copy it?

No, she hadn't seen that demanding plea for help on any other letters and she knew that he would never have copied someone else, which meant: "Goner" was Scorpius.

And that she, Rose Weasley, was the best friend he was in love with.

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><p><strong><em>Until next week… read &amp; review!<em>**


	8. Chapter 8: Mental

_**Happy Sunday everyone! I'm back with another lovely chapter of Dear Gerdy and I think you guys will enjoy it. I wrote it the day after I posted Chapter 7 (if I remember correctly) and I decided to post it today before I got Cass's challenge (:-P). I hope to have Chapter 9 for you guys next weekend but there are some other things I have to get done first on top of working 40 hours a week and my birthday is Tuesday so my week will be a little fuller than normal.**_

_**Anyway, enjoy the chapter and since my birthday is in two days leave lots!**_

_**Special thanks to Love without expectation, NegligibleNaina, Biils, Cass and Karen for reviewing the last chapter!**_

_**xoxoBeccaxoxo**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Mental<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I witnessed somebody cheating on a test... and I don't know what to do._

_Sincerely,_

_Conflicted_

Dear Conflicted,

I sense that there is more to this than you've written; I'm willing to bet that this person you saw cheating is someone you care about. Whether or not that is the case, you need to inform the professor.

The person who is cheating is not only hurting themselves and their own schooling, but hurting their classmates.

Turning a cheater in might not be the popular thing, but it is the right thing to do.

Sincerely,

Gerdy

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><p>What in Merlin's name had Scorpius done to her?<p>

Made her mental, that was what. Did he have any clue as to what his declaration of love had done to Rose's mind; not to mention the extra time it took for her to get ready every morning?

It was Saturday, a Hogsmeade Saturday, and instead of being in the Great Hall eating breakfast, Rose had just finished getting dressed; a process that had taken thirty minutes thanks to an internal debate about what to wear: cute or sensible. She had finally settled sensible and chose on a pair of jeans, a blue sweater and a black coat.

Now she was faced with more internal battles; ones she had never given any thought to before. Did Scorpius like her hair up or down? Did he like it when she wore makeup or without? Which of her perfumes did he like best?

Just as she was starting to panic, the door of her dorm room swung open and, spinning towards it, she saw Lily.

"There you are!" Lily exclaimed. "We were -"

"Close the door," Rose ordered.

Looking stunned, Lily did as she was told then walked over to where Rose was standing. "What in Merlin's name is going on, Rose? You look like -"

"Scorpiusisinthlovewithme!"

"Come again?"

"Scorpius is in love with _me_," Rose said, her voice slower and quieter than the first time.

"SWEET MERLIN!" Lily squealed, clapping her hands together. "You _finally_ figured it out!"

That wasn't the reaction that Rose had expected from her cousin. Why hadn't she been surprised at the revelation and what did she mean by _finally_?

"You knew?" Rose asked. "And you didn't tell me?"

"Oh course I knew," Lily scoffed. "I wanted to tell you ages ago, but Albus forbid it."

"Albus knew, too!" Rose exclaimed, her jaw dropping in disbelief. "Some cousins you guys are."

"Oh Rose, stop with the Weasley dramatics," Lily rolled her eyes. "It wouldn't have been the same if Albus or I told you, you needed to hear it from Scorpius." She frowned suddenly. "If Scorpius told you he loved you then why didn't he say anything to us or seem to know why you were missing?"

Rose chewed her lip and turned away from Lily. How was she supposed to answer that question without giving away the fact that she was Gerdy.

The dorm room door swung open again and this time it was a sixth year by the name of Grace Chaplin. "Rose, Scorpius Malfoy wants to know if you two are going to Hogsmeade or not," she said. "He, Albus Potter and your brother are driving us crazy downstairs."

"Tell them we'll be down in a minute," Lily told her.

"I can't do this," Rose said as soon as Grace had left the room. "Lily, you go with them and I'll -"

"You're coming to Hogsmeade," Lily said, firmly. "And you and I are going to spend the day together. I'll tell the boys that there are girl things that we need to take care of."

"I don't know, Lily," Rose sighed.

"Pull your hair back, put on a little make up and that perfume you bought with your Nana Granger this summer," Lily told her. "I will send the boys on their merry way and then the two of us will go to Hogsmeade for a boy-free day."

Lily left before Rose could argue so she did as she was told and finished getting ready to go.

Fifteen minutes later, Rose left her room and went down to the common room where she found Lily waiting for her.

"Relax," Lily said, slipping her arm through Rose's. "We'll walk around for awhile then we'll head to the Hogs Head and get butterbeer and talk."

The path to Hogsmeade was nearly empty as Rose and Lily made their way to the village. They took their time visiting the bookshop and the robes shop before dropping into the Hogsmeade branch of WWW to say hello to their cousin Fred.

It wasn't until they were sure that the boys would have already left the Hogs Head that Lily and Rose went to the quiet pub.

"You find a table, I'll get our drinks," Lily suggested.

Rose found a table next to the lone window in the pub and gazed out of it. She didn't need to see her brother's red hair to spot him, Scorpius and Albus, for her eyes found Scorpius without much effort. The three guys were standing outside the Quidditch supply shop talking animatedly about something.

"Here you go," Lily said, setting a hot butterbeer in front of Rose before taking her seat.

"Thanks," Rose replied. She picked up the drink and took a long, slow sip, letting the liquid warm her insides.

"Rose, how did you find out that Scorpius loves you?" Lily asked.

Rose wanted to tell her, but she knew she couldn't. She couldn't even say that Lily would understand it all in a couple years, but there wasn't a guarantee that whoever she picked would pick Lily. Unless Aunt Luna made a special case for Weasley-Potter girls.

"I put two and two together," Rose said. It wasn't a complete lie. She had, after all, figured out which letters were in fact Scorpius' and put the puzzle together.

Glancing up from her butterbeer, Rose wondered if her cousin was going to believe that, but to her relief Lily seemed to accept the answer.

The relief was short lived, because as soon as Rose tipped her glass back for a drink, Lily asked, "And how do you feel about Scorpius?"

Rose choked on her drink and started coughing as she slammed the glass onto the table. It took nearly a minute of coughing for the episode to end and once glance at Lily's face told her that they weren't leaving until Lily had an answer she liked.

Which was nearly impossible because Rose herself didn't know how she felt about Scorpius.

Scorpius had been her best friend since first year and she couldn't imagine her life without him. And she would be the first to admit that he was very good looking with his blonde hair, chiseled face, lean body and a smile that reached his eyes when he was really and truly happy about something.

He was a gifted student and had aspirations to make the wizarding world a better place for everyone. He had a big heart and hadn't let the hostility between his grandmother and her sister keep him from getting to know his cousin Teddy Lupin, which had brought about a reunion between the two sisters who hadn't spoken in decades.

He was funny too; she could always count on him to make her smile. And this year, especially, he had proved himself to be a loyal friend who wouldn't let her even think about doing something to hurt herself.

It wasn't until Rose looked up and saw Lily wearing a shit-eating-grin that she realized that she had just said that all aloud.

"Why are you grinning like that?" Rose snapped.

"That, my dear Rosie, is for me to know and you to find out," Lily replied. "And I think we better head back to the castle, I have to finish a paper for Professor Longbottom."

Rose glared across the table at her cousin. She was getting really sick of people acting like the situation with her and Scorpius was the most obvious thing in the world. It obviously wasn't, otherwise she would know what the heck was going on.

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><p><em><strong>Until next week….. read and review! <strong>_


	9. Chapter 9: The Aftermath

_**Happy Halloween my lovelies! I don't normally give hints about chapters but I will say that it might seem like a trick at the beginning but I promise it's really a sweet! There is only one more chapter of this story (sad, I know!), but I am leaning towards an epilogue… and I'm still planning on writing a short piece from Scorpius' pov.**_

_**Special thanks to Love without expectation, CypherVera and Cass for reviewing the last chapter!**_

_**So without further ado, I give you Chapter 9!**_

_**xoxoBeccaxoxo**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: The Aftermath<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_There is a guy that I really like and I really want to go out with him, but I don't think he'll ever ask. What should I do?_

_Sincerely,_

_Crazy About Him_

Dear Crazy About Him,

If you really like him and you're both single, ask him out. Sure, there is a chance he'll say no, but you never know; he might have a crush on you and just be too afraid to ask you out.

Sincerely,

Gerdy

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><p>The looks she was getting from her brother and cousins told her they knew something was up.<p>

But Rose couldn't force herself to tell them what she had done. She had been stupid, so stupid. Her stupidity was the reason there were four of them in their compartment instead of five.

She hated herself and she knew if she told them what she had done, they'd hate her too. Just like Scorpius did.

As conversation in the compartment changed to Lily and Albus' older brother James and his new girlfriend, the daughter of Gwenog Jones, a Quidditch player their mum had played with, Rose envied them. She'd give anything to be able to think about something other than what had happened last night.

She'd give anything to go back in time and fix the damage she had done. Though she wasn't sure if she could fix it.

Like every Friday night, she had been in the Room of Requirement putting finishing touches on the newest Dear Gerdy issue. She had been working quickly, knowing that she still needed to pack her trunk for the Christmas holidays.

She had finished the whole issue in roughly an hour's time and set the delivery charm on the issues so they would be waiting in the Great Hall when everyone got up the next morning. Then she had exited the Room of Requirement and headed towards Ravenclaw Tower.

She had been a quarter of the way to the tower when she had realized she had forgotten to grab a couple volumes of old Dear Gerdy letters to read at home over the holidays. She had doubled back, but had frozen when she had heard footsteps.

Curious as to who was trying to get into the Room of Requirement, she had chanced a glance and her mouth had dropped when she saw Scorpius standing where the door had been not five minutes earlier.

"I want to see the room that Rose Weasley goes to," he had said. "I want to see where she disappears to."

Despite knowing that he wouldn't be able to get in the room (as one had to ask for Gerdy specifically), Rose had been livid at the sight of him trying to get inside.

His attempt to break into her secret room had been the straw that broke proverbial camel's back.

Filled with anger at his continued lack of trust, she had abandoned her hiding space and had made her presence known by saying, "What are you doing here, Malfoy?"

If she hadn't been so pissed at him, the look of surprise mixed with fear that had crossed his face probably would have made her laugh.

"Rose, I- I thought you'd left," he had stammered.

"You still don't trust me," she had snapped. "What in Merlin's name have I done to make you not trust me?"

"You aren't yourself!" He had retorted. "You're keeping secrets from everyone and don't think I haven't noticed the fact that you've been sneaking out of the tower in the morning."

"Who are you, my mum?" She had exclaimed. "I don't know why you suddenly feel the need to keep tabs on me, _Malfoy_, I am not a child!"

"But you're acting like one! Bloody hell, Rose, why can't you just tell me what in Merlin's name you've gotten yourself into?"

"I haven't gotten myself into anything!"

"Yes -"

Then the stupidest thing had come to her and without thinking she had cut him off and said, "If you love me as much as you claim, you'll back off."

He had gone paler than normal and she had regretted instantly the fact that she had thrown his secret in his face to protect her own.

His face had gone from angry to unreadable before he had turned on his heel and ran from the area.

She had hung her head in shame and had sunk down against the wall. She had known then that she had messed everything up.

She hadn't seen him since he'd run from the seventh floor. She had returned to the tower and had gone straight to bed, not bothering to pack or change out of her day clothes. She hadn't fallen asleep though, instead, her mind kept replaying the fight and the look on his face.

Morning had come too quickly and she had been forced to skip breakfast in order to finish packing her trunk. She had met her brother and cousins in the entrance hall and the four of them had walked down to the train station together.

She had kept quiet as they walked and the howling wind made it so she only heard snippets of their whispered conversation about Scorpius' absence.

"- said he had some last minute Prefect duties to attend to."

"I heard him say he was sitting with the Prefects."

"He looked ill when I saw him."

She was sure they had been waiting for her to give them more information, but she hadn't. She hadn't spoken a single word after saying 'morning' to them when they had met.

"Rose," she heard someone whisper then felt them shake her. "Rose, wake up, we're at Kingscross."

Opening her eyes, Rose looked up and saw her brother staring at her with a worried look on his face.

"You ok, Rosie?" He asked.

"Fine," she replied.

He helped her up then they grabbed their stuff and followed Albus and Lily off the train.

It wasn't until she spotted her dad at the back of the platform that her eyes started to tear up. She pushed through the families greeting each other and broke down as she reached her dad. She flung her arms around him and started to ball.

She felt her dad's strong arms wrap around her and she didn't care that they had an audience.

"He hates me, daddy," she cried. "He hates me."

"Nobody could hate you, princess," her dad said. "Let's go home and have some tea then you can tell mummy and I everything."

She was barely aware as they made their way through Kingscross Station and to the car. The drive home felt as long as the train ride from Hogwarts, but Rose was very happy to see their cozy farm house.

Her dad levitated the trunks inside and Rose came into the house after Hugo. She sat down on the sofa as her brother said hello to their mum then asked for permission to go to the Potters', to which their dad gave him permission to do despite the look on their mum's face.

"We have a problem," she heard her dad mutter to her mum. "It'll be easier without Hugo here."

"I'll make tea," her mum offered.

A few short minutes later, Rose found herself sitting at the table with her mum and dad. She wanted to tell them everything, but she couldn't tell anyone about Gerdy.

"Does this have anything to do with Gerdy?" Her mum asked quietly.

Rose nodded.

"Gerdy?" Her dad repeated. "As in that Dear Gerdy thing Luna created during your seventh year?"

Her mum nodded.

"Does that mean that Rose is Gerdy this year?" He asked.

Rose and her mum nodded.

"Alright then, so what does this have to do with Gerdy and who is the guy that you think hates you?" Her dad asked.

She told them everything. Once she started talking, she didn't stop until she told them about the fight last night. But instead of bracing herself for their reactions, her mind was spinning at the revelation that hit her like a ton of bricks.

There was a reason she had been so bothered by Scorpius' secret. There was an explanation for why she knew his scent and why she both loved and hated it when he wore cologne. There was more to their relationship than just the friend layer she had always seen. There was a reason she was torn up inside after their fight last night.

She, Rose Weasley, was in love with Scorpius Malfoy, her best friend.

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><p><em><strong>See! I told you it would end with a sweet! :)<strong>_

_**Until next time, read and review!**_


	10. Chapter 10: Confession

**_Happy Sunday! I am back with another chapter and I'm pretty sure you guys will _really_ like this one ;) This is the last chapter chapter of this story, next week (or sooner depending on how quickly I write it) I will post the epilogue. Then before the end of the year I hope to have the Scorpius short posted for you guys, I can't give you a better timeline than that mostly because I'm still trying to work out the details for that one. _**

_**I'm not sure what I'll work on after I finish this story. I have some ideas, one is a Harry/Ginny piece and another is a Ron/Hermione missing years short story collection. I may write some Scorpius/Rose short stories though… but who knows what the future holds!**_

_**Special thanks to pandagirl12, Cass, Love without expectation, Missdagane, CypherVera, Biils, piiink1 and soawesome013 for reviewing Chapter 8!**_

_**xoxoBeccaxoxo**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: Confession<strong>

_Dear Gerdy,_

_I totally messed things up with Scorpius._

_Sincerely,_

_Rose_

Dear Rose,

Instead of writing to your alter ego, why don't you work on what you're going to say to Scorpius when you see him back at school? This was a waste of perfectly good piece of parchment.

Sincerely,

Gerdy

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><p>The Christmas holidays were going too slowly!<p>

Rose doubted that any Weasley (save for Uncle Percy and maybe her own mum) had ever felt that way about the two weeks they got off from school. Then again, she didn't think any of them had been ignored by their beloved following a huge fight.

At least, she hoped that Scorpius still loved her.

His silence, however, was worrying her. She had tried sending him letters saying they needed to talk and attempted to contact him via the floo-network, but his end of the network had been locked. Then she had made the mistake of mentioning Scorpius' silence to her mum before asking if she could apparate to the Malfoy home to see him.

Her mum had said no then had gone on to lecture her about giving Scorpius space. She had to admit that her mum made some good points, like that his family might be on holiday or something, but still didn't like the idea of sitting around and doing nothing until they were back at Hogwarts.

It had been two days since that conversation with her mum and she wished they could skip the next ten days (including Christmas) and go straight to January second and the train ride back to Hogwarts, where she and Scorpius would make up.

Today was the Eve of Christmas Eve, or rather, just plain ol' December 23rd, and she had planned to spend the day like the four previous—stay in bed all day, in hopes Scorpius contacted her—but her plans had changed when Victoire sent an owl inviting her over to make cookies.

So after breakfast, which her dad had forced her to eat for fear of getting told off by grandmum for her being too skinny, she floo'd to the small house Teddy and Victoire lived in on the outskirts of London.

Victoire was waiting for her in the sitting room and greeted her with a hug and a kiss on each cheek. Then they went into the kitchen and started making cookies.

As they worked, she told Victoire everything that had happened since the emergency Gerdy meeting in October. Well, everything except the clue that Roxanne had given her. She ended with her failed attempts at contacting Scorpius and wishing the holidays would end now so she could see him.

"It'll all work out, trust me," Victoire told her. "I hope you realize now why I couldn't say anything the last time we talked. You needed to figure out it out on your own."

"How did you know that he liked me and that I liked him?" She asked her cousin.

"By the way you guys interacted with each other," Victoire replied. "Like the way you spoke to each other, moved together and looked at each other. You really reminded me of myself and Teddy."

"If it was that obvious then why didn't I figure it out sooner?"

She knew that Victoire was trying to make her feel better, but it was making her feel worse.

"You were too close to what was going on," Victoire said. "I was the same way with Teddy, so I recognized what was going on between you two while the casual observer wouldn't have had a clue."

"How long did it take you to figure out Teddy loved you and that you loved him?" Rose asked, feeling a little better knowing that she wasn't alone in being slow in the love department.

"An embarrassing long time," Victoire laughed. "Granted, he was two years ahead of me in school and was waiting until I was of age to try anything. If it hadn't been for me accidently walking in on him when he was changing in the guestroom at Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's house during Christmas holidays my sixth year and all the thoughts that filled my head following that, I'd probably still be in the dark when it came to him."

"Really?"

"Really," Victoire nodded. "He teases me about being slow and about only wanting him after I saw him naked."

"I think I would die if I walked in on Scorpius changing," Rose said. She couldn't stop herself, though, from imagining how he would react if that actually happened.

"I was really embarrassing," Victoire blushed. "But it worked out in the end."

The sound of someone arriving via the floo network put an end to their conversation. For a second, a startled look flashed across Victoire's face then disappeared.

"Viccy?" Rose recognized Teddy's voice calling from the sitting room.

"Be there in a minute," Victoire called back. Then she turned to Rose. "The reason you haven't been able to reach Scorpius at home is because his parents are at a wedding in France. I don't know why he hasn't been responding to your letters, but he is staying here with us until tomorrow."

"He's here," Rose said her eyes growing wide. "Now?"

"Yes."

Rose dropped the spoon she was mixing with and began to pace the kitchen. Why hadn't Victoire told her that two hours ago when she had arrived? Why had Victoire waited until now to drop the bomb?

"I'm not ready to talk to him," she said. "I haven't figured out what to say -"

"Just tell him the truth," Victoire advised. "And whatever else your heart tells you to say."

"But I can't tell him the truth because the truth involved Gerdy and I can't tell him about her," she replied in hushed tones.

"You can tell him about her," Victoire stated. "Aunt Luna and I spoke and decided that given the situation you could tell him."

Victoire acted like telling Scorpius the Gerdy secret would be no big deal, but it was a huge deal. She had been telling him all term that nothing was up and there-

"Don't over think this, Rosie," Victoire said before placing her hands on Rose's shoulders and pushing her into the sitting room where Teddy and Scorpius stood.

Rose looked at Scorpius long enough to see shock on his face then averted her eyes to the floor. He didn't want to see her, she was sure of it. If he had, he would have answered her letters, right?

"Well, we're going to go to the market," Teddy informed them. "You two are going to stay here and talk."

Rose head shot up and she stared at Victoire in disbelief.

"Relax," Victoire whispered. "You can do this, Rosie. Channel your G-"

"I'm a Ravenclaw," Rose stated.

"Ah yes, well then, channel the good ol' Weasley courage," Victoire replied.

Rose glared after her cousins as Teddy helped Victoire put on a coat then led her out the front door.

After the front door closed, she turned her attention back to her feet. She knew she could do it, it was Scorpius after all. He was one of the reasons she was as confident as she was. But there was that chance that he would tell her that she had messed everything up and that was what kept her from opening her mouth.

Hesitantly, she pulled her eyes up to look at him and found him staring back at her. His silver grey eyes were full of life and that was all she needed to see.

"Scorpius -"

"Rose -"

The quiet laughter that filled the room after their simultaneous ice breakers effectively broke through the tension that had fallen over the small sitting room. They were just Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, best friends for seven years.

"Lady's first."

"Thanks." She shucked in a deep breath then started, "You were right all term when you said I was hiding something from you, but it wasn't anything you thought it was though. It's silly really, though it makes sense, I mean you wouldn't want everyone to know because that would ruin the mystic of it all. Wouldn't it?"

"I know you're Gerdy," he interrupted.

She stared at him first in shock then in confusion. "You- but how?"

"I figured it out," he shrugged. "I mean, you didn't seem interested in the Dear Gerdy issues until this year and then suddenly you wanted to know if there was anything good in them.

"Then there was Teddy who started telling me to write to Gerdy for advice after I told him how much I liked you last spring.

"Then there were the answers themselves. They sounded just like you and if I had paid a little more attention to how they were written as opposed to what was written, I would have figured it out sooner."

"Teddy told you to write to me, I mean, Gerdy?"

"Ya, he was insistent. I didn't understand why until the other night."

Guilt rose up inside of her and she moved her eyes back to the floor. "I'm sorry for throwing your secret in your face that night," she said. "It came out before I could stop it."

"I can't say it didn't hurt," he replied. "But I also can't say I didn't deserve being knocked down a few levels. I've been a real prat, Rosie, I should have trusted you."

She looked up at him in surprise. "You don't hate me?"

"I thought it was a general understanding that I love you," he said with a smile. "Because of that, it is impossible for me to hate you. I can be mad at you and frustrated with you, yes, but I could never hate you."

"I could never hate you either," she replied.

"How did you find out?" He asked her.

"The Dear Gerdy letters," she replied. "After our first fight, you submitted a letter and I forgot to use the enchantment to change the handwriting, not that I wouldn't have been able to tell it was from you from the content of the letter.

"Then I wondered if you had written other letters and the little 'Help.' at the end of that letter guided me to the other two you wrote this year. Then I found the letter from last year, the one about you being in love with your best friend."

"You really do belong in Ravenclaw," he grinned.

"I have a question though."

"Alright."

"Out of all the girls at Hogwarts, why me?"

"Why you?" He repeated. "Why not you? Rosie, you are the most beautiful girl in the world. You're brilliant, hilarious, determined and passionate. You have an insane ability to keep me on my toes. It would take me years to tell you all the reasons I love you and the list would keep getting longer, because I keep discovering new things about you that I love."

"Years? Really?" She replied.

"Yes, Rose, _years_," he stated. "Just the way you're looking at me right now, with your nose crinkled in disbelief, is something I love. I love everything that makes you who you are."

Rose felt her face flush and looked at her hands before trying to speak. "How- how did you figure it out?"

"Honestly? When Sam Huggins started snooping around last winter wanting to know if you were dating someone. It didn't matter that I knew for certain that you wouldn't go out with a git like him, but just the idea of you dating some other guy made me jealous," he confessed. "It took weeks of denial in regards of my feelings before I just accepted the fact that I loved you."

"I hope you told Sam Huggins that I would never date him," she stated.

"Albus backed me up when I reminded Huggins that your dad is an Auror and said that he didn't let you date."

Rose rolled her eyes at the proud grin that spread across Scorpius' face.

Closing her eyes and taking a calming breath, she decided that now was the perfect time to tell him how she felt.

"I was talking to my parents," she started, her eyes looking down at her hands. "Telling them everything that had happened this term when I figured it out."

After another calming breath, she continued, "You're my best friend, Scorpius. You are always there for me and you help keep my Weasley temper in check. You're smart and funny, but you also have a serious side that always shows up at the right time. You're and you smell good, even after you've been playing Quidditch."

She lifted her blue eyes so they met his.

"I love you, Scorpius," she finished.

"You love me," he repeated. "Why?"

She gaped at him. "I- I just told you!"

She narrowed her eyes when a smirk spread across his face.

"Oh, right, you love me because I'm hot and I smell good."

She felt her face flush, partly due to her embarrassment and partly because her temper was flaring. "Shouldn't you be kissing me or something instead of teasing me?"

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

"Yes."

Wordlessly, he crossed the room and stopped just inches from her. A shiver ran down her spine as his large hand caressed her check before he closed the remaining gap between them and touched her lips with his own.

Their first kiss was a chaste peck, but she wanted, needed more from him. Taking control, she threw her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

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><p><em><strong>Can't wait for your reviews!<strong>_


	11. Epilogue

_**Happy Thursday readers… even though it is slightly sad since this is the end of this story. **_

_**I went back and forth between writing an epilogue and not writing one, but then I got the idea for this and decided to go ahead and write it. It takes place two years after Chapter 10 and you get a look into Rose and Scorpius' life.**_

_**I want to thank everyone who has read the story and give an extra shout out to those of you who reviewed! **_

_**A big 'YOU ROCK!' to Mrs. Grint-Cozart-Felton-Horan, Missdagane, Love without expectation, piiink1, Biils, Cass, CypherVera, Tamora Pierce Addict, pandagirl12, Soccergirl0809 and Diane Potter who reviewed Chapter 10!**_

_**xoxoBeccaxoxo**_

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><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

_New Years Eve_

_Two Years Later_

Rose sat in the sitting room of her and Scorpius' apartment waiting for him to come out of the bedroom so they could go to her grandparents' home for the annual Weasley family New Years party.

Growing frustrated, she forced herself up and quickly walked back to the bedroom.

"Seriously?" She glared when she found him laying on their bed reading a book. "Scorpius, we're supposed to be there now."

"If we're late then maybe we shouldn't go at all," he replied with a smirk. "I doubt they even expect us to be there tonight."

"They do and we will be," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I doubt it," he replied. "We've been married three days, Rosie, I think they'll be shocked if we show our faces before Easter."

"If we don't show up there will be patronuses showing up every few minutes to make sure we're ok," she told him. "This is why we should have waited until July to get married instead of between Christmas and New Years."

"I didn't want to wait a whole year," he stated. "If I had known that I would have proposed last Spring instead of on September 1st."

"Well the deed is done and you're stuck with me _and_ my family for eternity," she replied. "Now put on your Weasley sweater and let's go."

"Alright, but don't look at me for help when Victoire starts talking about her pregnancy again," he said, climbing off the bed.

"You say that, but I know you love our goddaughter Dora," she replied. "I swear every time we see her, you have another gift for her."

"Just making sure I'm her favorite," he shrugged.

"You don't buy me things," she replied with a small pout.

"That's because I already know I'm your favorite," he smirked. "Now, shouldn't we be leaving?"

"Yes, but first take the present for Dora out of your pocket," she told him. "We don't need to start any fights about who gets presents and who doesn't."

Just imagining the chaos that would start made her shudder. There were six Weasley great-grandchildren: Dora was the youngest at eighteen months; nineteen month old Johnny was the only child of James and Amelyn (daughter on Gwenog Jones); Fern and Gemma were Fred and Anabelle's three year old twin girls; and Dominique and her husband Jaques had a four-year-old son, Simon, and a three-year-old daughter, Amelie.

Scorpius sighed and pulled shrunken teddy bear out of the pocket of his jacket before he put it on.

"Thank you," she said. "See you at the Burrow."

She turned on the spot and arrived just outside the Burrow's wards seconds later, Scorpius arriving soon after.

"If you give Dora that teddy bear or any other gift, you will start the new year on the sofa," she informed him before shaking her red hair and walking through the wards.

She heard Scorpius' follow her through the snow covered path and up the front steps. She knocked the snow off her shoes then opened the front door and went inside. Ever the gentleman, Scorpius helped her take off her coat then hung it and his own coat up on one of the enchanted coat racks.

"And you said they'd notice our absence," he smirked when they walked into the sitting room and nobody looked their way.

"Give it a second," she replied, knowingly.

No sooner had the words left her mouth when they heard, "The newlyweds are here!"

That caught everyone's attention, especially Uncle Charlie's when Grandmum shoved a tray of pies into his arms and pushed through the crowd of Weasley's to greet Rose and Scorpius first. It took them fifteen minutes to say their hellos to everyone else while making their way to the food.

"Don't say it," he muttered as she gave him one of her 'told you so' grins.

"Dig in, dig in," her grandmum encouraged. "You two are far too skinny, we've got to get you ready to produce some more Weasleys." Grandmum's eyes twinkled. "Speaking of my great-grandbabies, when will you be giving me one?"

"GRANDMUM!" She exclaimed, scandalized as she slapped Scorpius' back as he choked on the bite of chicken he had just taken.

"I already had Bill by the time I was your age," Grandmum stated. "Pregnant with Charlie, too."

"Grandmum, we aren't ready for kids yet," she said after handing Scorpius a glass of water. "Scorpius is almost done with his Auror training, but I still have two more years of Healer training."

"Malfoy won't be done until he completes the hardest part of his training," Ron said, joining them at the food table. "And don't expect me to go easy on you because you're married to my daughter."

"Daddy," Rose said, warningly. "You two aren't at work so call him by his name."

"It's fine, Rosie," Scorpius said, his voice hoarse. "I want to earn my spot in the Auror department, sir."

"No, it's not," she replied. "He should call you Scorpius or son, not Malfoy, and you should call him dad, not sir or Auror Weasley."

"It's not that easy, love," Scorpius said. "We've been married three days, your dad and I have had a working relationship for a year and a half. We all have to adjust to the new titles in our relationship, but until I finish training, it'll be easier for us to keep it as is."

"I don't like it," she replied. "But I get it." She turned to her dad. "If he comes home from training injured, I will hold you personally responsible, daddy."

"Relax, Rose," Teddy chuckled as he and Albus joined them. "Uncle Ron wouldn't abuse his power as the training coordinator. "He gave James and I the same talk about not taking it easy on us and it was all talk."

"Yeah but you guys were his nephews," Scorpius muttered then added so quietly that Rose barely heard him, "And you aren't shagging his daughter."

She turned and winked at him.

As her dad, cousins and husband started talking Auror business, she took a survey of the sitting room and narrowed her eyes when she saw Lily standing near the stairs, looking at her and nodding her head towards the stairs.

"I'll be back," she told Scorpius before heading towards her cousin.

"Finally," Lily exclaimed, quietly. "I've been trying to get your attention since you guys go here. I need to talk to you."

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"Not here," Lily said quickly. "Come on."

She followed Lily up the stairs and they went into the room that had been Aunt Ginny's bedroom.

"What's going on, Lily?" She asked again.

"Devon is being a prat!" Lily exclaimed, speaking of her boyfriend Devon Thomas, Hogwarts' current Head Boy.

"Because of Gerdy?"

"Yes! The prat won't leave me alone about it and I don't know what to do without telling him, but I don't want to tell him."

"I could have Scorpius talk to him for you."

"Really?" Lily asked.

"Yes," Rose smiled. "Is he coming tonight?"

Lily nodded.

"Alright, I'll talk to Scorpius then when Devon arrives, come find us."

They left the room and returned to the party, only to be stopped by a five months pregnant Victoire.

"There you two are," she smiled. "The baby is kicking, feel!" She grabbed their hands and placed them on her belly.

Rose felt the baby kicking against her hand and smiled. She looked over Victoire's shoulder and met Scorpius' eye. He winked then started making his way over.

"There you are," he said. "Excuse us, ladies, I need to steal my wife away."

"Thanks for rescuing me," she said after they were out of earshot.

"I can't turn down a damsel in distress," he smirked, leaning in to steal a kiss. "So where did you disappear to?"

"Lily and Devon are having troubles," she replied quietly. "And I thought you could talk to him since we had the same issue our seventh year."

"Gerdy?" He mouthed.

She nodded.

"Consider it done," he replied.

An hour later, they were talking to her mum when Lily and Devon appeared at their side.

"Devon, you remember Scorpius Malfoy and you know my cousin Rose," Lily said.

"Nice to see again," Devon said, shaking Scorpius' hand.

"You as well," Scorpius replied. "I was going to grab a drink, can I get you something, Devon?"

"Uh, sure," Devon nodded.

"We'll be back," Scorpius told Rose and Lily.

"I hope this works," Lily muttered.

Scorpius returned twenty minutes later with a drink in his hand.

"Where's Devon?" Lily asked, her voice slightly panicked.

"In the kitchen talking to your dad and brothers," Scorpius replied.

"And you left him there!" Lily exclaimed. She pushed past him and hurried towards the kitchen.

"I can't believe you left him in there alone with them," Rose said, hitting him in the shoulder.

"Hey! Your aunt and grandmum are in there, too," he replied. "I just wanted a minute alone with my beautiful wife."

"Such a prat," she stated. "Are you going to tell me how your talk with Devon went?"

"When we get home," he replied, a twinkle in his eye.

"Scorpius, it's not even nine yet," she stated.

"Are you saying you'd rather spend the next three hours with your family than back at our place?" He asked. She opened her mouth, but closed it when he pressed his finger against her lips. "You said we had to come, you didn't say we had to stay."

Rose chewed on her lower lip as she glanced around the crowded room. Spending the rest of the night quietly at home with Scorpius sounded nice, she had to admit, and it wasn't like they were doing anything special here.

She turned her eyes back to her husband and he was grinning like he already knew she was going to say yes.

"We have to say goodbye to everyone," she told him. "And if anybody asks, we say we have another engagement."

It took them half an hour to say goodbye to her family and make their way to where their coats were. He helped her put her coat on and, after he put his on, they went out into the cold night. They walked towards the edge of the wards then held hands as he apparated them back to their apartment and arrived in their sitting room seconds later.

"How did it go with Devon?" She asked as she slipped off her coat.

"Well, I asked him if he loved her," Scorpius stated, tossing his coat on the sofa. "Then after he said he did, I told him that if he really loved her as much as he claimed that he'd back off."

Her face paled and she stared at him.

"Joking," he chuckled before leaning in to kiss her, but she turned her face away at the last moment. "Don't do that, Rosie, you know I love you and the fact that you can pop my ego with your tongue."

"What did you tell him?" She asked, still feeling hurt from his teasing.

"That I acted the way he was acting two years ago and I nearly lost you because I was a stupid prat," he replied, placing his hands on her waist. "I told him that she wasn't in any trouble and that he needed to trust her."

"Do you think he'll listen?" She asked, finally turning her face towards him.

"Probably not," he replied. "But next time you write to Lily, ask her to let you know when the next Hogsmeade visit is and I can go and refresh his memory."

"You are a good man, Scorpius Malfoy," she smiled. "I'm glad I married you."

"I'm glad you married me, too, Rose Weasley-Malfoy," he said before claiming the kiss she had denied him minutes before.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Thanks again for reading my little story. I'm planning on writing a one-shot from Scorpius' point of view and I will post it in this post, so if you want to be alerted when it shows up, make sure you add a Story Alert.<strong>_


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